St Davids 
Contents
ST DAVIDS
From
From Lewis' Topographical Dictionary of Wales
(1833)
St David
DAVID'S (ST.), a city and parish in the hundred of DEWISLAND,
county of PEMBROKE, SOUTH WALES, 16 miles (W. N. W.) from
Haverfordwest, 26 (N. W.) from Pembroke, and 265 (W. by N.) from
London, containing 2388 inhabitants. This city has been described
by several historians as occupying the site of the Roman station
Menapia, both from the evidence of various ancient roads
leading in a direction towards it, and the situation of that
station as noticed in the Itineraries. But modern writers are of
opinion, chiefly from the absence of all military works or other
relics of the Romans, that the site of Menapia was nearer
the sea, on a sandy tract called "The Burrows," and is now covered
by that element, which has encroached considerably upon the shore
in the vicinity. That the district now constituting the parish of
St. David was inhabited at a very early period is obvious, from the
numerous druidical remains with which it abounds. In the fifth
century it appears to have been called by the Welsh Mynyw,
which is also variously written Menyw and Manyw, and
is probably compounded of the words Man and Yw,
signifying "small yew trees," which were formerly very plentiful in
the vicinity, though divers other etymologies have been proposed.
Its Roman name, which was probably a Latinized modification of the
British Mynyw, was also altered into Menevia, which is still
retained in the style of its bishops, who are called Episcopi
Menevensis. The history of the present city commences with that
of the saint to whom it owes its name, who is also the patron saint
of Wales, and to whom its origin is ascribed. St. David was the son
of Xantus, Prince of Caredigion, and Non, daughter of Gynyr, of
Caer Gawch in Mynyw, or Menevia, a chieftain
who lived about the middle of the fifth century, and who, embracing
a religious life, gave all his lands to support the church, which
was probably the first endowment of the see of Menevia. The period
of David's birth is not with certainty known, but may be assigned
to the middle of the fifth century. The author of his life in the
Acta Sanctorum considers him to have been born in 445;
Cressy in 462; and others at a still later period. In Leland's
Collectanea it is related that St. David was baptized by Elveus,
Bishop of Menevia; that he was brought up in a place called
Hên Mynyw, or "Old Menevia," and that Gistilianus,
Bishop of Menevia, was his uncle; from which it appears that this
place had been made the seat of an episcopal see at least before
David had arrived at years of maturity. Having been advanced to the
honour of priesthood, and having long studied in the Isle of Wight,
under Paulinus, a disciple of St. Germanus, David proceeded to
propagate the truths of Christianity among the Britons, and to
assist in uprooting the Pelagian heresy, in which he exhibited such
surpassing abilities, whereby he collected around him a body of
disciples, many of whom were afterwards canonized for their
superior wisdom and piety, that at a great synod held at
Llandewy-Brevi, in the county of Cardigan, he was preferred to the
archbishoprick of Caerlleon the capital of Gwent, on account of the
increasing infirmities of the holy Dubricius, who then enjoyed that
high dignity. David, however, only accepted it at the unanimous
request of the bishops, clergy, and laity present at the synod, and
on condition that he should be allowed to remove the metropolitan
see from Caerlleon to this place, where St. Patrick had already
founded a monastery, over which David presided, and which he is
said to have held in greater favour than all the other religious
houses in the diocese. The archbishop, with the consent of his
nephew, the renowned King Arthur, accordingly removed the seat of
the primacy to Menevia, called by Giraldus Cambrensis Vallis
Rosini, which Capgrave translates "The Rosy valley," and Sir R.
Colt Hoare "the Vale of Rhôs," and established it at his
college in this vale, near Hên Mynyw, or "Old
Menapia;" and the place was afterwards called by his countrymen,
from respect to his memory, Ty Dewi, "the House of David, or
"St. David's," which appellation it has ever since retained. During
his primacy he had for his suffragans the bishops of Worcester,
Hereford, Bangor, Llandaf, Llanelwy or St. Asaph, Llanbadarn near
Aberystwith, called in Latin Paternensis, and Margam; the
first two were at an early period accounted English bishopricks,
and the two last being dissolved, the succeeding archbishops had
only the bishops of the other three Welsh dioceses as suffragans.
The period of the death of David, and the age at which he died, are
as undetermined as the time of his birth. Pits considers this event
to have occurred in the year 544; Giraldus Cambrensis, and John of
Tynemouth, in 609; and Bishop Godwin in 647; whilst all concur in
ascribing to him the incredible age of one hundred and forty seven.
Usher and his biographer in the Acta Sanctorum are also of
opinion that he died in 544; but the former states that he was only
eighty-two years old, and the latter ninety-seven. He was interred
in the cathedral which he had founded, and many years after his
decease was canonized by Pope Calixtus ll.; but the distinction
which he attained, as patron saint of Wales, is comparatively of
modern origin. His immediate successor is stated by Giraldus to
have been Ceneauc, or Kenanc, called also Kinothus, who was also
interred in the cathedral, and was succeeded by St. Teilo, the
celebrated bishop of Llandaf; but in Bishop Godwin's list of
successors the name of Eliud appears next to that of David.
Early Destructions
The city and cathedral of St. David were repeatedly exposed to the
desolating effects of incursive warfare in the early ages, and the
events which marked the progress of one had an equal influence on
that of the other. In the year 808, during the reign of Cynan
Tyndaethwy, they were reduced to ashes by the West Saxons, which
disaster was followed by a destructive murrain among the cattle of
the surrounding district; and in the reign of Anarawd, in the year
911, St. David's was utterly destroyed by the Danes: on the latter
occasion a desperate battle was fought in the vicinity, in which
Maylor, one of the Welsh princes, was slain. Bishop Godwin records
that, in the time of Samson, the twenty-fifth archbishop, there
were seven suffragans to this see, viz., the bishops of Exeter,
Bath, Hereford, Llandaf, Bangor, St. Asaph, and Fernes in Ireland:
this prelate, in 915, according to Browne Willis, on account of a
pestilential disease which then raged here, withdrew to Dol in
Brittany, taking his pall with him, where he died; and his
successors in the see, either for want of the pall, or for some
other reason, were deprived of the title of archbishop, although
they still exercised the power of consecrating the Welsh bishops of
Llandaf, St. Asaph, and Bangor, until the reign of Henry I., when a
Norman ecclesiastic, named Bernard, not chosen by the Welsh clergy,
as had been the custom, but forced upon them by the English
monarch, yielded an extorted submission to the see of Canterbury,
which has continued to the present time; the bishops of St. David's
and the other Welsh dioceses being thenceforward suffragans to the
primate of all England. The first mention of the archdeaconry of
St. David's occurs in this reign, about the year 1128, when it was
held by one William, whose successor was the celebrated Giraldus
Cambrensis, who was afterwards elected to the bishoprick, but not
consecrated. Meanwhile, events of great importance to the city had
occurred. In 982, during the reign of Howel ab levav, Geofryd, son
of the Danish king Harold, laid waste the church of St. David and
its possessions; and, towards the close of the same century, the
Danes again landed, slew Bishop Urgenau, or Morgenau, and destroyed
with fire and sword the inhabitants and their property. The
reigning sovereign, whose two sons had been interred here, being
unable to restrain the desolating progress of these marauders, was
compelled to purchase their departure by paying them a tribute of
one penny for every man in his dominions, commonly called "The
Tribute of the Black Army," and is said to have died of grief in
consequence. In 1077, in the reign of Trahaern ab Caradoc, St.
David's was sacked and destroyed by a roving army either of Danes
or Norwegians, who landed in great numbers from their ships. But,
notwithstanding these disasters, the city rapidly increased in
wealth and magnificence, owing principally to the many munificent
largesses bestowed at the shrine of its patron saint, two visits to
which were anciently deemed as meritorious as one pilgrimage to
Rome. The amount of these offerings is reported to have been so
great, that it was divided among the clergy of the establishment by
measure, to save the trouble of counting it.
In 1077, William the Conqueror invaded Wales with a great army;
but not experiencing the slightest opposition from the natives, he,
with his accustomed good policy, changed his military expedition
into a pilgrimage, and advanced at the head of his troops to this
city, where he offered his devotions at the shrine of St. David,
and received the homage of the Welsh princes. This shrine was
sacrilegiously pillaged and the city plundered in 1087; and, a few
years afterwards, the Danes once more landed, plundered and burnt
the church, and, taking possession of the surrounding
intrenchments, settled here for some time, during which they
perpetrated the most cruel outrages in the adjacent district. In
1090, the descent of the Normans on the modern county of Pembroke
commenced; and it is probably to the hardy valour of these invaders
that the city of St. David's owed the tranquillity which it
afterwards enjoyed. During the prelacy of David Fitzgerald, the
immediate successor of Bernard, the Norman bishop, who, in the
reign of Henry I., had surrendered the archiepiscopal authority of
the see into the hands of the Archbishop of Canterbury, King Henry
Il. came hither, and, having made his offering at St. David's
shrine, was entertained by the bishop. Peter de Leia, the successor
of Fitzgerald, finding the cathedral church almost in ruins, from
the frequent assaults of the Danes and other piratical invaders,
pulled it entirely down, in 1180, and built in its stead a new
church, dedicated, as the former had been, to St. Andrew and St.
David, and which constitutes the greater part of the present
edifice. Prior to the preferment of this prelate, the chapter had
elected Giraldus Cambrensis, as the successor of his uncle, Bishop
Fitzgerald; but the king, unwilling to elevate to that dignity a
man of such influence and talents, refused to ratify their choice.
The same body, however, on the death of Peter de Leia, again placed
Giraldus at the head of a list of four persons, whom they
nominated; but his election not being confirmed, the see remained
vacant for six years, whilst Giraldus was endeavouring to procure
his consecration to it, and it was ultimately filled by Geoffry de
Henelawe, prior of Llanthony, whose successor was lorwerth, or
Gervase, by whom the precentorships in the cathedral were founded,
about the year 1225, and in whose prelacy the new tower of the
cathedral fell down, in November 1220.
During the war between Henry Ill. and the disaffected barons,
Richard Earl of Pembroke, Mareschal of England, and the most
powerful of the barons, attacked this city, in 1233, and
barbarously put to death all the king's partisans in it. In March
1248, whilst Anselm was bishop, a great part of the cathedral was
thrown down by an earthquake. The office of Treasurer of St.
David's was founded in 1259, by Bishop Carew, and the dignity of
Chancellor in 1287, by Bishop Thomas Becke, who also established
other offices in the cathedral, some of which exist at present,
though under different names. During the episcopacy of Becke, King
Edward I. and Queen Eleanor, in 1284, came on a pilgrimage to the
shrine of St. David. The next bishop was David Martin, who built a
chapel, dedicated to St. Mary, at the eastern end of the cathedral,
still occasionally called Bishop Martin's chapel, in which he was
interred. He was succeeded by Henry Gower, Chancellor of England,
who erected the magnificent episcopal palace of St. David's, the
interesting remains of which are so deservedly admired: he died in
1347, and was interred in a chapel, dedicated to St. John, which he
had built for his own sepulture under the rood-loft of the
cathedral. His immediate successor was John Thoresby, Chancellor of
England, and subsequently Archbishop of York; and Bishop Adam
Houghton, who was also Chancellor from 1377 to 1379, was another
early successor. The latter drew up certain statutes, which were to
be observed in the church of St. David's: he also built St. Mary's
College, adjoining the northern front of the cathedral, for a
master and seven fellows, and endowed it with £100 per annum,
and a separate house for each: to this institution John of Gaunt,
Duke of Lancaster, was so great a benefactor, as to be reckoned
joint founder with the bishop. Bishop Houghton was interred in the
chapel of St. Mary; and his second successor was John Gilbert, who
was twice appointed Treasurer of England. He was succeeded by Guy
Mohun, who was also keeper of the King's Privy Seal, Treasurer of
England, and Treasurer of St. Paul's, London. This prelate's
immediate successor, Henry Chicheley, afterwards became archbishop
of Canterbury, and was accounted the most worthy and benevolent
bishop of the age in which he lived. Edward Vaughan, the eighty
second bishop of St. David's, is recorded as the last who
contributed materially to the embellishment of the cathedral: he
built a most elegant chapel between that of St. Mary and the choir,
which he dedicated to the Holy Trinity; and adorned various parts
of the building with appropriate embellishments: he also erected
St. Justinian's chapel, about a mile from the city, and, dying
about the year 1521, was interred in his own chapel, where was
formerly a brass plate inscribed to his memory. His successor,
Richard Rawlins, died in 1535, and was the last bishop buried in
the cathedral. Bishop Barlow, the immediate successor of Rawlins,
presided over the see thirteen years, during which, in order, as it
is said, (by Brown Willis,) successively to provide for his five
daughters, who were married to five bishops, he greatly
impoverished it, even taking off the roof of the episcopal palace,
for the sake of the lead, and thus occasioning so much damage to
that magnificent structure, as to require the revenue of the
bishoprick for twelve years to repair; but this object was never
attempted, so that it now presents a vast pile of picturesque
ruins. Bishop Barlow's successor, Robert Farrar, was also a great
dilapidator but after the fall of his patron, the Duke of Somerset,
he was imprisoned by the precentor and canons, and, having
continued in confinement during the remainder of the reign of
Edward VI., was, on the accession of Mary, adjudged an heretick,
and burned at the stake at Carmarthen, in 1555. On Farrar's
deprivation, Henry Morgan was elected, in 1553, but was ejected on
the accession of Elizabeth, and succeeded by Thomas Younge, the
precentor who caused the imprisonment of Farrar, and who was driven
into exile in Germany, during the persecutions in the reign of
Mary, but finally was made Archbishop of York. His successor in
this bishoprick was Richard Davies, a man of great learning and one
of the translators of the Bible: he was succeeded by Richard
Milbourne, D.D., who was translated to the see of Carlisle in 1621,
and was accounted one of the most learned, pious, benevolent, and
public spirited persons of the age. The next bishop was the
celebrated William Laud, D.D., who was subsequently elevated to the
archbishoprick of Canterbury, and was beheaded on Tower Hill in
1644. His second successor in this see was Roger Mainwaring, who
was imprisoned and subjected to great persecution during the
parliamentary war, in the midst of which he died, in 1653. About
this period, lands of the value of £3547. 4. 8., were
alienated by an ordinance of the parliament from the bishoprick,
which continued vacant from the death of Bishop Mainwaring to the
election of William Lucy, in 1660. Another vacancy, of five years
and eight months, occurred in the see, which was terminated in
1704, by the appointment of George Bull, one of the most eminent
divines of the last century. Robert Lowth, prebendary of Durham,
who was eminently distinguished for his learning and amiable
manners, was elevated to this see in 1766, but was translated in
that year to Oxford, and thence to London. Samuel Horsley, the one
hundred and fifteenth bishop, was appointed in the year 1788: he
was a man of great learning, and early distinguished himself by an
intimate acquaintance with the mathematical sciences. Amongst his
other publications were, a complete edition of Newton's works, and
a translation of Hosea: he was translated to Rochester in 1793, and
afterwards to St. Asaph. Thus, with the divines who have since
succeeded to this bishoprick, has the see of St. David's had the
greatest number of prelates of any in the kingdom: of these,
twenty-six were archbishops, and twenty-one more, although they did
not bear the title, retained archiepiscopal authority over the
other Welsh sees; and many others filled the highest civil offices
in the state.
The Parish
The parish comprises the westernmost portion of the great rocky
promontory projecting into St. George's channel, and forming the
northern boundary of St. Bride's bay, and also the small islands
lying off its extremity, which gave to this headland its ancient
name of Octopitarum, or Octo-petrarum: these islands,
with some sunken rocks, occasion in the intervening channels
exceedingly strong currents. They are eight in number, of which
seven are mere rocks, called "the Bishop and his Clerks;" and the
eighth, which is called Ramsey Island, lies about one mile from the
main land, and is about three miles in length and one in breadth.
At the southern end of the intervening sound is a dangerous reef of
rocks, denominated "The Bitches;" and in the middle of it there is
a rock much dreaded, called "The Horse," which is covered at high
water. The whole of Ramsey Island is elevated, and at each end
rises a lofty hill, imparting to it a grand and romantic
appearance, and presenting various picturesque groups of rocks: on
the summits of these hills, which command prospects of great extent
and magnificence, there are divers remains of antiquity, including
intrenchments, carneddau, &c. The island contains much good
arable and pasture land, and is amply supplied with water, the
principal stream being powerful enough to turn a mill. The "Bishop
and his Clerks," three of which afford scanty pasturage for sheep,
are appurtenant to Ramsey: they are all included in this parish,
and are the property of the bishop. At the eastern end of Ramsey,
and scarcely separated from it, are two smaller rocky islands, one
termed Ynys y Byry, or "The Kite's Island," and the other
Ynys y Cantwr, or "The Precentor's Island," yielding a thick
matted herbage, on which a few sheep feed. A little to the
north-west of Ramsey there is a bank, which is said to have been
formerly noted for its excellent fishery of cod, turbot, soles,
&c., long since entirely neglected. The rocky cliffs of this
and the other islands are annually the resort of an immense number
of migratory birds, including eligugs, razor-bills, puffins,
&c., and were anciently likewise distinguished for their breed
of falcons. The city of St. David's, exclusively of "the Close," is
pleasantly situated on ground sloping gently towards the sea, and
at the distance of one mile from it; and consisted formerly of five
streets, called respectively High-street, St. Nun's-street,
New-street, Ship-street, and Pit-street, but is now reduced in
appearance to a mere village, the houses, with very few exceptions
besides those of the clergy, being small and meanly built. In the
middle of the town stands the High Cross, where the market was
formerly held, and funerals were wont to stop, and from which the
High-street is continued downward to "the Close," an extensive area
at the foot of the hill, which comprises within its precincts the
venerable cathedral, the magnificent ruins of the episcopal palace,
the habitable houses of some of the dignitaries, and the ruins of
several others; the whole exhibiting very interesting remains of
the pristine grandeur of the buildings of this ancient city. The
Close, which is extra-parochial, is twelve hundred yards in
circumference, and was formerly encompassed by an embattled wall,
of which there are still some remains: in this wall were four
gates, corresponding with the cardinal points;but the only one
remaining is the Tower Gate, situated at the bottom of the
High-street, and forming the principal entrance into the Close. The
small river Allan, which is celebrated for its trout, runs through
this area, and is now crossed by a bridge, in lieu of an ancient
marble slab, which was polished by the feet of pilgrims, and was
superstitiously believed to possess miraculous properties. The only
prebendal house now remaining is that of the prebendary of St.
Nicholas Penvos, besides which there are five other houses for the
dignitaries of the cathedral, viz., the precentor, treasurer,
chancellor, and the archdeacons of Brecknock and St. David's, which
are neat modern buildings, much differing in character from the
sacred edifice with which they are connected. This parish is very
productive of grain, which in some years is shipped to a
considerable extent: a haven is formed by the mouth of the river
Allan, at Porth Clais, about one mile from the city, where a pier
was constructed, at a very early period, to defend it from the
violence of the waves, and was rebuilt in 1722. Of late years the
quay has been extended, and the harbour otherwise considerably
improved. To this small port, which is a creek to that of Milford,
belong seven vessels, averaging about twenty-five tons' burden,
which are principally employed during winter in conveying grain
(chiefly barley) and butter to Bristol and other ports on the
Severn, and during summer in bringing limestone, coal, and culm
from the shores of Milford Haven . In the year 1830, three thousand
quarters of grain and two hundred and fifty casks of butter were
shipped from this place. The market, which was formerly held on
Monday and Thursday, has long been discontinued: fairs are held on
March 12th and August 5th. St. David's has no municipal
corporation, although there is an officer called mayor, whose duty
consists only in collecting the chief-rents belonging to the
bishop, within the limits of the city, which is co-extensive with
one of the four cylchs, or divisions of the parish, called Cylch y
Drêv, or "the Town Hamlet," the remaining three being
denominated Cylch-Mawr, Cylch-Bychan, and Cylch Gwaelod, "the
Larger, the Smaller, and the Lower Hamlets," and all united for the
maintenance of the poor. During the recent debates in parliament on
the subject of amending the representation of the people, it was
proposed by the first Reform Bill that St. David's should be
contributory to Haverfordwest, but that arrangement was altered,
'and it is now wholly omitted in the Act.
The Diocese
The diocese appears anciently to have comprised the whole of South
Wales, and is still of very great extent, containing the four
counties of Brecknock, Cardigan, Carmarthen, and Pembroke the whole
of Radnorshire, except six parishes, which belong to the see of
Hereford; the deanery of Gower, in the county of Glamorgan, which
contains twenty-two parishes; the hundred of Ewyaslacy, in the
county of Hereford; and two parishes in each of the counties of
Monmouth and Montgomery. The ecclesiastical establishment consists
of a bishop (who is also dean), a precentor, chancellor, treasurer,
four archdeacons, eight prebendaries, and six canons cursal; a
sub-chanter, four priest-vicars, four lay vicars, an organist, six
choristers, a master of the grammar school, verger, porter, sexton,
and a keeper of the church during time of service. Of these, the
precentor, chancellor, and treasurer are, by virtue of their
dignities, styled Residentiarii Nati; and, in addition to
them, three other canons are chosen by the rest of the members, as
vacancies occur, from among the archdeacons, prebendaries, and
canons cursal: these six residentiaries constitute the chapter, and
hold an audit annually on the festival of St. James, which has been
kept for several ages, and at which they are obliged by the
statutes to be present, either in person or by proxy, to receive
rents, impose fines, &c. On this occasion they keep by turns a
public table, and he at whose expense the entertainment is provided
is called "The Master of the Fabrick." The precentor is invested
with the privileges of dean, and accordingly takes his seat in
convocations, and subscribes in chapter next after the bishop, who
is properly dean, and has a stall assigned to him at the entrance
into the choir of the cathedral, on the right hand side. Divine
service is performed in the cathedral by the eight vicars choral
and four choristers, under the direction of the sub-chanter, who
has a stall among the prebendaries. The sub-chanter and vicars
choral are of themselves a body corporate, having lands, of their
own, of which they grant leases under a separate seal, without the
interposition of the chapter. The bishops formerly exercised almost
sovereign authority throughout the diocese, particularly over the
province of Dewisland, or honour of Pebidiawg, in which their
jurisdiction was more absolute than the minor regality of a
lordship marcher. In their instruments they called the inhabitants
of Dewisland, including St. David's, their subjects; and such as
dared to violate rashly, or infringe upon, their statutes, were
punished by them. The mayor of St. David's acted in entire
subordination to the bishops, whose statutes and mandates it was
his duty to enforce; and he held his court in the building which
formed the south-east wing of the Tower Gate. The bishop's
seneschal, or steward, was usually some person of distinction in
the country; and within his jurisdiction the prelate had several
inferior courts, from which an appeal lay to the supreme court at
his castle of Lawhaden, which place still confers on the bishops
the dignity of a baron of the United Kingdom. In some cases the
bishop exercised the power of inflicting capital punishment; but on
the other hand he was bound to garrison and protect the city and
its suburbs, and, by his military tenure, was compelled to be
present in war; on which occasion he made his progress with great
state, being accompanied from this city, on the first day of his
march, by the burgesses, carrying with them the relics and shrine
of St. David, so far as permitted their return that night. The
privileges of the sanctuary of St. David's were very extensive and
much respected: the sanctity of the place was not confined to the
limits of the Close, or of the city, but the whole parish,
emphatically called in Welsh Plwyv Ty Ddewi, "the parish of
the house of St. David," was overspread with chapels, crosses, and
holy wells, some of the last being still held in great repute. In
addition to the sumptuous episcopal palace of St. David's, the
bishops had castles at Trêvdyn, about six miles distant,
Llan-Vydd (now Lamphey), and Lawhaden, in Pembrokeshire; at
Llandygwidd, in Cardiganshire; Llanddewi, in Brecknockshire; and
Aberguilly, in Carmarthenshire; all which are now in ruins, except
the last, where an establishment is still kept up. At present the
bishop holds his consistorial court at Carmarthen for the whole of
the diocese, at Brecknock for the counties of Brecknock and Radnor,
at Haverfordwest for Pembrokeshire, and at Cardigan for
Cardiganshire: at each of the last three places the principal
registrar appoints a deputy.
The Cathedral
The cathedral, dedicated to St. Andrew and St. David, is a
magnificent cruciform structure, consisting of a nave, with aisles
extending nearly the whole length of the building, a choir and
chancel, north and south transepts, and a large square tower of
elegant proportions rising from the intersection of the nave and
transepts, surmounted by pinnacles at the angles. The exterior,
with the exception of an early Norman doorway on the north side, is
wholly in the various styles of English arhitecture. The western
front was rebuilt, towards the close of the last century, by Mr.
Nash, and displays a fantastic intermixture of these various
styles. The principal entrance is through a grand doorway at the
west end, called the Bishop's Door; but this is seldom used, the
common entrance being by a handsomely enriched porch on the south
side. The nave is separated from the aisles by a row of five
massive pillars on each side, alternately round and octagonal, with
corresponding pilasters at each end, supporting six arches richly
ornamented in the later Norman style, above which is a double
series of Norman arches, reaching to the roof of the nave, and
occupied in the upper part of the higher range by the windows of
the clerestory, every alternate one of which, on the south side,
has been closed: there is also a range of five elegant windows, in
the English style of architecture, in each of the aisles, opposite
the arches which separate them from the nave. The roof of the nave
is of Irish oak, divided into compartments, and ornamented with a
carved pendent in the centre of each. The choir is entered from the
nave by a flight of steps, leading to an arched narrow passage
under the rood-loft, the front of which is adorned with a handsome
stone screen, erected by Bishop Gower, and accounted, both for
design and execution, one of the finest specimens of decorated
English architecture: it is comprised within the four lofty arches
that support the tower, three of which are of ancient English
architecture, and the fourth, which is occupied by the rood-loft,
and is supposed, from the decayed state of its pillars, to be the
only one remaining of those on which the tower was anciently built
by Bishop Peter de Leia, is in the Norman style, but all of them
spring from Norman columns: it contains twenty eight stalls, which
are of oak, and the bishop's throne, which was executed at the
expense of Bishop Morgan, and, for elegance of design and carved
decorations, is probably only surpassed by that in Exeter
cathedral: in the north arch, and not in the rood-loft, as is
usual, is placed the organ. The chancel, which is separated from
the choir, by a low screen, contains a beautiful Mosaic pavement,
composed of small tiles, inscribed with religious mottoes and other
ingenious devices: the high altar is placed under an elegant design
of three arches, said to have been formerly filled with painted
glass, which, combined with the elegant window above, consisting of
three lancet-shaped compartments, and adorned with the most
elaborate tracery, had a rich and beautiful appearance. Immediately
beyond the chancel is the chapel erected by Bishop Vaughan, in the
reign of Henry VIll., an exquisite specimen of the later style of
English architecture, almost rivalling in richness and elegance the
chapel of Henry VII. in Westminster Abbey: the roof, which is of
freestone, is beautifully designed in fan tracery, and the
sculpture, from the great care with which it is preserved by the
chapter, appears almost as fresh and perfect as when first
executed. Beyond a small intervening passage, and forming the
eastern extremity of the cathedral, is the decayed chapel of St.
Mary the Virgin, built by Bishop Martin, which has been unroofed
for some years, and is rapidly falling into ruins. In the same
state also are the aisles eastward from the transepts, which were
greatly damaged by Cromwell's soldiers, who unroofed them for the
sake of the lead, which they sold to one of their partisans, then
in possession of the priory estate at Cardigan, who made use of it
in covering the church and priory-house there. From the north aisle
a considerable flight of steps forms the ascent into what was
formerly the chapter-house, but is now used as a grammar school.
Under it is a room of the same dimensions, having an elegant
groined roof, and probably that in which the entertainments of the
chapter took place at their audits, there being at the upper end a
dais, as in colleges and ancient baronial mansions. Both these
ruined aisles retain vestiges of their groined roofs, with windows
of beautiful proportions in the English style of architecture, and
other corresponding decorations. The transepts have no
distinguishing architectural feature: in the north transept stood
formerly a chapel, dedicated to St. Andrew, and in the south was
one dedicated to St. David, and now called the Chanter's. The
northwest door of the cathedral opens into a space much obstructed
by some heavy and unsightly buttresses, which it was found
necessary to erect, for the support of this part of the building,
Between this and the ruins of St. Mary's College stood the
cloisters, of which only the pillars of the arches are now
remaining. The extreme length of the cathedral, including the
chapels of Bishop Vaughan and St. Mary, is two hundred and
seventy-four feet and a half; its breadth along the transepts, one
hundred and eighty-four feet, and the width of the nave and aisles
seventy-six feet. Among the monuments are several of great beauty
and antiquity: the celebrated shrine of St. David, now scarcely
distinguishable from other ancient tombs, occupies a recess on the
north side of the chancel, consisting of three arches in the
ancient style of English architecture, resting on pillars of great
delicacy and beauty, in the central one of which was placed an
image of the saint, and on each side were those of St. Patrick and
St. Denis: beneath a horizontal slab were four quatrefoil holes,
for the offerings of pilgrims, of which two have been closed; and
the whole was formerly enriched with precious stones, and veiled
with silken drapery. Under the rood-loft are three recumbent
effigies, one of which, formerly enclosed on two sides by a railing
of brass, is that of Bishop Gower, and the other two are attributed
by Browne Willis to Thomas Wallensis, who died in 1255, and Richard
de Carew, who died in 1280, though other writers have assigned them
to different persons. In the area of the chancel stands the
altar-tomb of Edmund Earl of Richmond, the eldest son of Owen
Tudor, by Catherine, Queen of Henry V., and father of Henry VII.,
on which were formerly his effigy and various escutcheons and other
ornaments in brass, which were removed by the parliamentarians, who
stripped the cathedral of many of its costly decorations: the earl
was first interred in the monastery of Grey friars, at Carmarthen,
on the dissolution of which his remains are said to have been
removed to this place. On the floor of the south side of this
portion of the building are the recumbent effigies of Bishops
Iorwerth and Anselm; and, under recesses on each side of the altar,
are figures of two knights in armour, well executed in freestone.
That on the south side, which is in good preservation, is
interesting as the memorial of Rhys ab Grufydd, last prince of
South Wales, who died in 1196: the effigy represents a man rather
advanced in years, in a recumbent posture, his vizor raised, and
his head supported by a helmet, with a sword suspended at his side
by a rich belt, a lion rampant sculptured on his breastplate, and
another lion supporting his feet. The other effigy is that of a
Welsh chieftain, named Rhys Gryg, and represents a younger man,
similarly accoutred. Near it is the handsome tomb of Treasurer
Lloyd, who died in the reign of James I. In the roofless aisle on
the north side of the chancel are the mutilated effigies of a
Knight Templar and a monk, another effigy with an inscription much
defaced, and two arched ornamented recesses. Beneath a richly
adorned canopy, on the south side of the dilapidated chapel of St.
Mary, lie the remains of its founder; and on the opposite side is
the tomb of Bishop Houghton. The decayed aisle on the south side of
the chancel contains the monuments of various dignitaries of the
cathedral, one of which is supposed to be the effigy of Giraldus
Cambrensis, who was interred here. In the north transept, in which
there is an effigy of some dignitary, many relics of antiquity,
found in the cathedral, and some of them very curious, are
deposited. In this part of the building there is a place separated
by a railing, said to have been anciently used as a penitentiary;
and in the wall are some round holes, by means of which the voices
of the priests officiating in the choir might be heard by the
inmates. Near the west end of the cathedral stands a building,
erected towards the close of the last century, as a chapter-house;
but, from the inelegance and impurity of its style of architecture,
and as it obstructs one of the finest views of the venerable
cathedral, it has been the object of general censure. Besides a
room in which the affairs of the chapter are transacted, it
comprises a handsome apartment, forty-two feet long, in which the
audit entertainments of the chapter take place, with kitchens,
cellars, &c., the whole being surmounted by a fancifully
ornamented spire. The records of the minor chapter are kept in a
room over the porch on the south side of the cathedral.
Chapels and Schools
The living is a perpetual curacy, in the archdeaconry and diocese
of St. David's, endowed with £600 royal bounty, and
£1200 parliamentary grant, and in the patronage of the
Precentor and Upper Chapter of St. David's. The cathedral is used
as the parish church, divine service being performed in the nave
four times every Sunday, twice in the English, and twice in the
Welsh language. Formerly there were several small chapels in the
parish, most of them situated near the sea-side, adjacent to the
landing-places, so as to attract the devotion of seamen and
passengers; and the offerings received at them were carried to the
cathedral, and there divided every Saturday among the canons and
priests. Of these, the names of four have been preserved, viz., St.
Justinian's, St. Non's, Capel y Pystill, and Capel y Gwyrhyd. St.
Justinian's is said to have been built by Bishop Vaughan, and now
forms a very interesting ruin in a beautiful and romantic
situation: there are also some remains of St. Non's. There are two
places of worship each for Calvinistic Methodists and Independents,
and one for Wesleyan Methodists. The grammar school attached to the
cathedral affords instruction to six choristers, the number fixed
by Bishop Morgan, in 1501, who conferred upon it a handsome
endowment, which, however, it lost at the time of the Reformation,
by the act for the suppression of chantries: the master is
appointed by the upper chapter, and receives from that body a
stipend of £20 per annum; and each of the choristers receives
£3. 8. per annum from the same source. Another free school
has been established by the upper chapter, from whose funds it is
principally supported: there are at the present time upwards of
eighty boys and fifty girls in this school. St. David's is one of
the four parishes participating in the munificent bequest of the
late Dr. Jones, made in the year 1698, for the relief of the poor
and the apprenticing of children, and receives as its share
£40 per annum, which is distributed according to the
intentions of the donor.
A college for a master and seven priests was founded here, in
1365, by Bishop Houghton, to which John of Gaunt, Duke of
Lancaster, and Blanch his wife, were such great benefactors as to
be considered its second founders: it was dedicated to St. Mary,
and at the dissolution had a clear revenue of £106. 3. 6. The
buildings were connected with the north side of the cathedral by
cloisters, which, with the exception of the pillars of the arches,
have been destroyed; and the only part remaining is the shell of
the chapel, from which some idea may be formed of their grandeur
and extent. The chapel was sixty-nine feet in length, and about
twenty-four in width, with a square tower at the west end, which is
seventy feet in height: the side walls are forty-five feet high,
and in each of them were three windows in the English style of
architecture, twenty-four feet high and nine broad: the east window
was similar in shape, but larger in dimensions, and the whole of
them were enriched with painted glass. Underneath this edifice
there is a vaulted crypt of equal dimensions, through which runs a
small stream of water. In addition to the cathedral and the college
chapel, the remains of the episcopal palace complete the venerable
and magnificent group of buildings which, with their varied
architectural features, characterize the Close. This superb edifice
was situated at a short distance to the west of the cathedral, on
the western bank of the small river Allan, and was built by Bishop
Gower, in the reign of Edward III.: it enclosed a quadrangular
area, one hundred and twenty feet square, and presented four
fronts, of which the south-east and south-west alone remain. In the
latter is a noble room, measuring ninety-six feet by thirty-three,
commonly called King John's Hall, which is entered from the court
by an elegant porch, in the exterior of which there are two niches,
containing mutilated statues of Edward III. and his queen: it is
lighted by lofty windows at the side, and by a rich and curious
circular window at the south-west end, having sixteen radii
diverging from its centre, which were originally filled with
painted glass. At the other end of the hall there is a
drawing-room, opening into a small chapel, the freestone tower and
spire of which are still standing. The bishop's apartments occupied
the other remaining side of the quadrangle: the principal is a
hall, sixty-seven feet in length and twenty-five in breadth, also
entered from the court by an elegant porch, the archway of which
forms a curious semi-octagon. At the south-east end, between these
two halls, was the kitchen, alike convenient to the royal and the
bishop's apartments, having in the centre a low pillar, from which
sprang four arches, gradually diminishing into the same number of
chimneys, the whole now presenting a heap of ruins. At the other
extremity of the bishop's hall was a drawing room, opening also
into a small chapel, corresponding with that at the extremity of
King John's Hall: the basement story is composed of a series of
curious and spacious vaults. But the most remarkable feature of
these interesting ruins is the majestic open parapet surmounting
the walls, and which, rising to the height of seven feet above the
ceilings of the upper rooms, is formed by a succession of arches,
resting upon octagonal pillars with decorated capitals: besides its
concealing the roof, and having been exceedingly ornamental to the
palace, it afforded the means of defence similar to the battlements
of a castle, and was adopted by the same bishop in the
fortification and adorning of his residences of Swansea Castle and
Lamphey Court. The entrance from the town to the ecclesiastical
precincts of the Close is through the Tower Gate, an arched gateway
that is flanked by two towers, and one of them is a noble octagonal
structure, being sixty feet in height, which ancientIy comprised
the consistory court and record office of the diocese, and it now
communicates with the cemetery, a spacious area on the south side
of the cathedral; the other is circular, and, as it communicated
only with the town, it is supposed to have been appropriated to
municipal purposes: the whole was secured by a ponderous
portcullis. The lower part of the building consisted of a porter's
lodge and prison, and to the latter was attached a dungeon, entered
only by an iron rating, through which malefactors were lowered into
it.
The Surroundings
The promontory of St. David's abounds with ancient military and
druidical remains. The Barrows, on which the Roman Menapia is
supposed to have been situated, are overspread with tumuli; and
there, according to tradition, was the site of a town, anciently
called Caerlleon, "the City of the Legion." The military
work situated nearest to the town is a small circular encampment,
about a mile to the north of it. In the same direction is St.
David's Head, projecting a considerable distance into the sea, and
displaying scenery of the wildest character. At the entrance to it,
from heathy tract producing various aromatic plants, rises lofty
mass of rugged rocks, called Carn Lludw, towering in the most
grotesque forms, and commanding from their summits an extensive and
diversified prospect by sea and land. At the southern base of this
rocky elevation lies the celebrated Maen SigI, or Logan
Stone, which is of enormous size, and was once so delicately poised
as to yield to a slight pressure; but its equilibrium was destroyed
by the parliamentarian soldiers in the seventeenth century. Several
ancient military enclosures of a great variety of shapes and
dimensions are scattered over this part of the promontory, which is
also intersected by the remains of a rampart, formed of loose
stones, adjacent to which there are divers square and circular
areas, enclosed with stone: and there is also a remarkable
cromlech, the table stone of which is twelve feet long, eight feet
broad, and about two feet thick, and which is supported by a single
upright stone. A little beyond this there is a huge work called
Clawdd y Milwyr, "the fence of the soldiers," which consists of a
high and broad rampart of loose stones, extending, like that
above-mentioned, from one side of the promontory to the other, but
across a narrower part of it, with two outer lines of defence. This
work is supposed to have been constructed by the North-men, who
repeatedly ravaged the coast, and of whose habitations there are
still some remains in various circular enclosures within the space
protected by it. The parish is interspersed with numerous
carneddau, or sepulchral heaps of stones; and on Crûglas, a
common about three miles in length, bestowed on the parish by Rhys
ab Tewdwr, there is a huge stone, the supposed memorial of some
victory obtained here by the Welsh over some of the northern
pirates. There were likewise vestiges of an ancient fosse-way,
called also "the military way," in the parish, which once extended
from the coast of the Irish sea to St. Bride's bay; and on the
southern extremity of Carnochun, or Carn Nwchwn, are
the remains of some ancient fortifications, the enclosed area of
one of which is about one hundred yards long and sixty broad, and
is intersected by a natural perpendicular trench of great depth and
width: the whole is flanked with four parallel ramparts. Here are
also several metallic veins, most of them containing copper, which
run in parallel directions, and are much impregnated with sulphur,
but none of them are worked. In the clefts of the precipitous and
abrupt rocks forming St. David's Head is found a species of
crystal, called "St. David's diamond," which, when first obtained,
resembles the amethyst, and being extremely hard, is susceptible of
a better polish than most of the British gems: in this part of the
promontory there is also a large natural cave. The principal holy
wells, of which there were formerly several in the parish, now held
in repute are, one situated near St. Non's chapel, which is arched
over, and the water of which is esteemed efficacious in the cure of
divers diseases, particularly those of the eye; another near Porth
Clais and a third just without the southern boundary of the Close:
the last has also an arched covering, which yet exhibits some
specimens of the rich sculpture that characterized an elegant
chapel erected near it by Bishop Houghton. At a place called
Llan-Druidion there is a number of springs, called the Nine Wells,
the waters of which are immediately united into a copious stream.
St. David's and its immediate vicinity are distinguished as the
birthplace of several eminent characters, in addition to the patron
saint. Carausius, the celebrated Roman general, was born at
Menapia: he assumed the government in Britain, which he
conducted with great dignity and splendour, but was assassinated by
his minister Alectus, at the instigation of the emperor
Constantius. According to some writers, Asser, the friend and
biographer of Alfred the Great, and commonly called Asserius
Menevensis, was born here, about the middle of the ninth
century; but others are of opinion that he was a native of a small
village called Trêv Asser, in the parish of Llanwnda, and
that he obtained the surname of Menevensis from having been
a monk at this place, where his uncle Novis was archbishop. John
Erigena, who is also known by the names of John Patrick Erigena and
John Scotus, is claimed by the Welsh as a native of St. David's,
whilst, so great is the obscurity of his birth, both the Irish and
Scots regard him respectively as their countryman: he flourished in
the middle of the ninth century, was a man of great learning, and,
having resided for a considerable period in France, distinguished
himself by some writings on school divinity, which gave offence to
Pope Nicholas I. The late Richard Fenton, Esq., barrister at law,
F.S.A., and author of a "Historical Tour through Pembrokeshire,"
now also a native of this parish. The average annual expenditure
for the support of the poor of the city and parish amounts to
£905. 9.
Gareth Hicks, 5 Jan 2000
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